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Dorcas
The Queen of the Needle
The Scripture record of Dorcas is
limited to a few verses in the ninth
chapter of Acts, but her name to this
day stands for the benevolent use of the
needle. Her example has been an
inspiration to women throughout church
history.
The Bible is silent concerning the
genealogy of Dorcas. What is now is
that her home was at Joppa and she was
associated with a little band of
Christians, most of whom were poor. She,
however, apparently was a woman of means
to serve humanity as freely as she did.
The words of Jesus had no doubt been the
moving power in her soul: “For I was
hungered and you gave me meat, I was
thirsty and you game me drink; I was a
stranger and you took me in; naked an
you clothed me; I was sick and you
visited me; I was in prison and you came
to me....in as much as you have done it
unto the least of my brothers, you have
done it for me”.
The Scriptures give us only glimpses of
her witness and work for Christ in Acts
chapter nine, yet she has influence many
by her good works. She is evidently a
Christian, being called “a certain
disciple. It was through the ministry of
Phillip the evangelist that a Christian
church was established in Joppa at an
early date. From the its very beginning,
the church in Joppa was known as a
center of fervent evangelism and a
well-organized social service provider.
Possibly Dorcas came to Christ in this
church and there caught the vision of
service.
Dorcas was well known for her good works
and charitable deeds which she did. What
is significant about the account of her
life is that Dorcas not only thought up
ways of relieving the needy, but she
also carried out her plans! She knew
what she could do and she DID it. She
was a true “doer” of the Word. Among her
good works was that of making clothes
for widows and the need of her church
and community with her own loving hands.
The clothes that Dorcas cut out and
sewed represented Christian faith in
action. She was not only willing to give
financially, but she was willing to
invest herself in the work of charity.
When Dorcas died, she left the church at
Joppa grief -stricken. The church called
for the Apostle Peter, who was in a
neighboring city, to come to them. They
obviously had heard of Peter’s
supernatural power and doubtless hoped
that he might return their greatly-love
patron to them. When he got there he
found that the widows Dorcas had helped
had laid her out and prepared an
eloquent eulogy on the life and
character of Dorcas by showing some of
the many coats and garments which she
made for them. Here were aged widows
whose hands were too feeble to hold the
needle and too poor to pay others for
their work. They showed the warm
garments Dorcas had made them to protect
them from the cold winds which often
swept in from the Mediterranean. And
here were younger widows with little
children who had been clothed by Dorcas.
How could they ever find another friend
like her?
But Dorcas was given back to them by a
great miracle. Apparently this scene
touched Peter’s emotions. He sent them
all out and kneeled down and prayed.
When he felt his request had been
received by God, Peter spoke the word of
power and authority and raised Dorcas
from the dead, thus presenting her alive
to the saints and widows at Joppa. What
a moving scene that must have been! What
joy to receive this blessed woman back
from the dead. The mourners tear’s were
wiped away and the work of the Lord grew
mightily.
While Dorcas was greatly loved and
respected among the people of Joppa, it
seems that she wasn’t conscious of the
magnificent work she was doing and of
its far-reaching consequences. Dorcas
did not strive to be a leader, but was
content to stay in her own home and try
to do all she could to serve the Lord in
her sphere of influence. But because of
her faithful service, she indeed became
a leader in an almost universal
philanthropic cause. Many women
throughout history have sought to
emulate the life of Dorcas by
establishing “Dorcas Societies” that
hold humanitarian ideals, engage in
various relief activities, and whose
sole purpose in existing is to do good.
We can hold Dorcas as an example to all
of us to look after the welfare of
others. After all, James 1:27 tells us
that: “Religion that God our Father
accepts as pure and faultless is this:
to look after orphans and widows in
their distress and to keep oneself from
being polluted by the world.” We can
find no finer model of this pure
religion than Dorcas.
Click Here
for a Biographical Bible Study on the
life of Dorcas to share with a group or
a friend.
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